World Championships Vallodolid Spain

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 1985 Valladolid Spain

Officials HOD Margaret Woolf, Coach Marion Duncan, Bronwyn Clark.
Joy Bedggood,
Gymnasts:
Individuals: Patria Hume, Tanya Moss, Angela Walker
Group Karen Corlett, Samantha Greenwood, Diana Gunn, Kaaren Holland, Tania Jack, Roxanne King, Lesley Orr, Suzanne Preece
Observers Melanie Cairns, Lynette King & Brenda Preece

This was my first international tour and was magical - Manager to the 1985 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in the old capital of Spain Valladolid.

It was to say the least filled with incidents – there were 18 gymnasts and officials -. So organization was paramount.

There was so much to learn as an official and coach Marion Duncan and Joy Bedggood an old hand at the task helped me all the way.

After much fundraising we flew to Switzerland where we had a pre-World Championship competition and from there by train to Valladolid. Well nobody told me about the luggage a gymnast could take and what to do when 18 people had to get the entire luggage off in 2 minutes at various train stops.

I vividly remember the first training session we had – we followed Bulgaria who at that time was the top country which was daunting enough – one of our gymnasts had severe breathing problems as she left the floor and the medical team took her in hand. From there on they had a machine in further training sessions! To boot this young lady would not take any medication or injection from the Spanish Medical Team. Another New Zealander had her first asthma attack and Patria Hume was taken off to the University Hospital with a calf injury and was given an unintentional electric jolt meant for a person double her weight. She was very petit but survived.

Something I was not used to was the security – we were not allowed to leave the hotel without an escort and when we travelled to the training & competition venue we always had a full police escort. Every room in the stadium was guarded by armed personnel as we were near the Basque area.
All social events started at midnight and after which made morning trainings after a 2 hour sleep difficult to cope with at 7am in the morning. Of course the hosts took us to a bullfight which I am not sure was a good idea!

The Opening session was magical with a full orchestra and vibrant Spanish dancers.

All gymnasts competed well but I had a huge problem with the group. One of our gymnasts Suzanne Preece developed the Spanish ‘bot’ as we called it. I had 30 minutes to get to the doctor (it was quite hard to prove this fact in a doctor’s room!) then get to the President and withdraw her and ask for a substitute. Well the doctor would not do anything until I had drawn the name of the teams that were to be drug tested - yes back then!! Well was it coincidental I drew Bulgaria. I would have loved to seen the other names in the basket – were they all Bulgaria! Having got the certificate I hot footed it to the President – then I was suddenly hauled up by he FIG RG President Madame Rinaldi. I was literally shaking - I had got the wrong president the organizing one! My Spanish is not good! However we were let off the hook and the gymnasts were permitted to compete.

The competition was breathtaking and the ball routines were out of this world. The Spanish know how to organize a festival.

On the Banquet night three of our gymnasts Angela Walker, Tanya Moss and Patria Hume had to leave to return to New Zealand for exams or work. As the travel personnel were not about I decided I needed to take them a 200 metre walk to the station. The junior coach had found a very nice Spanish guy so I took off with them on my own. We got there and found the tickets were not valid – well Angela played all the female cards together with tears etc and they were able to get their tickets validated. Well Spanish time means ‘not on time’ so as I watched and waited until the train left. I became aware I was being followed by a guy. The gymnasts in the meantime boarded the train to find a drunk on board – they decided to push him off – I was very nervous as the platform was full of soldiers.

Suddenly three people rushed up to me babbling in Spanish and in my absolute terror I thought I was about to be taken off. I could not understand what they were saying. Then, off they rushed leaving me to work out how I was going to evade the guy who was following me. Well the group reappeared with an interpreter as the train suddenly pulled out and I was led back to the Banquet much to the disgust I noted from the Spanish follower. This group were the travel guys. That was not the end of the story; the girls arrived in Madrid to find no flights were available. In those days we had to check three days beforehand as to the availability of flights and because the 3 days before there were no phones available as it was the anniversary of the Christopher Columbus’ death I could not get through. Well the tears worked again and the gymnasts were on their way.

I arrived back at the banquet to find Diana Gunn had had a plate dropped on her foot by a waiter and she had to have stitches applied in a dirty cloakroom by a doctor. At this stage it was 4.00am and we were leaving at 7.00am. I fronted up to the desk to pay the account for 23 people with a NZGA Bank Cheque BUT NZGA had underestimated the cost by $6000 quite a bit in those days! Firstly they would not accept my Visa saying they had contacted Wellington (we checked when we got back and they had not). Fortunately I had an Amex card and I caught the train with a minute to spare. Melanie Cairns had also caught the Spanish ‘bot’ and was so sick she missed the competition – she was fine once we had left.

She had lost so much weight and I was worried about whether she was able to travel I called a doctor at 6.00am who did not seem to be in the least bit concerned so we decided to proceed – she was fine once we had left.

The first stop of our Europe Tour was Barcelona where Suzanne Preece an art history student gave us a tour around the city – an amazing place. We arrived in Nice and at this stage Diana Gunn’s foot was very sore as the stitches were too tight so after an hours walk we found our doctor who reapplied the stitches. We had a great dance lesson and then onto the fast train to Calais where we caught the boat to England.

This was a great time we stayed in the Youth Hostel under Big Ben the old choir and although it left a lot to be desired we enjoyed it all including the sights of London. The Australians as the Rainbow Warrior had been sunk and the French were out for our blood but mistaken the Aussies for New Zealanders. No gymnast was permitted to wear the NZ Tracksuit!

However the young people today will not believe this but it was very difficult to find a phone that worked in London and once again I could not get through to the airline in the days one had to confirm the return flight. Suddenly as I was walking along the road to find another phone I checked the itinerary and realized that Melanie Cairns, Marion Duncan & Joy Bedggood should be at the airport. Mental telepathy Marion also realized the problem and she was in the country several hours away SO we gathered by mental telepathy back at the hostel and with the luggage made our way to the Head office of Lufthansa wondering how on earth we were going to pay for this.
The Manager received us– no problem Madame and the team members were sent straight out to Heathrow and immediately put on another plane which connected with their other flight in LA. After that experience I doubt I will ever worry about a hassle again.

It was a great trip but when I think about it very difficult compared with these days.

Margaret Woolf